Valor - Southern Caribbean excursions?

Hi!

My wife and I will be on the Carnival Valor in September sailing out of San Juan. We are looking for the best excursions/things to do for each port. On the port of calls, we have only been to St. Thomas and we did the Catamaran Sail and Snorkel through Carnival.

We know that we want to either do snorkeling or SNUBA, zip lining and definitely visit the best beaches. So far I have read encouraging reviews about snuba at coral world, boatyard in Barbados and Sky Safari St Kitts.

What are everyone's must-do's for St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St Marteen?

Hi!

 

My wife and I will be on the Carnival Valor in September sailing out of San Juan. We are looking for the best excursions/things to do for each port. On the port of calls, we have only been to St. Thomas and we did the Catamaran Sail and Snorkel through Carnival.

 

We know that we want to either do snorkeling or SNUBA, zip lining and definitely visit the best beaches. So far I have read encouraging reviews about snuba at coral world, boatyard in Barbados and Sky Safari St Kitts.

 

What are everyone's must-do's for St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St Marteen?

In St. Lucia, I really liked the Jalousie Beach Break with Spencer Ambrose Tours. In St. Maarten, I booked a snorkeling excursion with Captain Allan that was excellent. In St. Kitts, I booked a beach day (lounger and umbrella) with Carambola Beach Resort, and was very impressed.

In Barbados, I went to the Boatyard, and I wasn't overly impressed. I mean, it was a beach, but the crowd left a lot to be desired (or it could have just been that I was sandwiched between two groups of people that had a great time discussing the marijuana available on the island and the legal trouble the couple on my right was in back in the states for growing it). It was really too crowded for me, too, and the constant harassment by the monkey men and peddlers was irritating.

In St. Lucia, I really liked the Jalousie Beach Break with Spencer Ambrose Tours. In St. Maarten, I booked a snorkeling excursion with Captain Allan that was excellent. In St. Kitts, I booked a beach day (lounger and umbrella) with Carambola Beach Resort, and was very impressed.

 

In Barbados, I went to the Boatyard, and I wasn't overly impressed. I mean, it was a beach, but the crowd left a lot to be desired (or it could have just been that I was sandwiched between two groups of people that had a great time discussing the marijuana available on the island and the legal trouble the couple on my right was in back in the states for growing it). It was really too crowded for me, too, and the constant harassment by the monkey men and peddlers was irritating.

How many ships were in port that day? I checked and the Valor will be the only ship so hopefully it wont be too crowded.

Thanks for the tips!

How many ships were in port that day? I checked and the Valor will be the only ship so hopefully it wont be too crowded.

Thanks for the tips!

I THINK there was just the valor and maybe one other ship. To me, it was just not my type of atmosphere at the Boatyard. It had a very college fraternity party feel to me. Nothing wrong with it if that's what you're wanting, but it just wasn't for me.

Hi!

 

My wife and I will be on the Carnival Valor in September sailing out of San Juan. We are looking for the best excursions/things to do for each port. On the port of calls, we have only been to St. Thomas and we did the Catamaran Sail and Snorkel through Carnival.

 

We know that we want to either do snorkeling or SNUBA, zip lining and definitely visit the best beaches. So far I have read encouraging reviews about snuba at coral world, boatyard in Barbados and Sky Safari St Kitts.

 

What are everyone's must-do's for St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St Marteen?

When in September are you sailing? We are sailing on September 14 and are still looking for 4 others to join our St. Lucia excursion. http://www.mysticmantours.com/eco-adventure/ 6 hour catamaran and snorkel tour of the island. $88. Even if you are not on our sailing it might be something for you and your wife to look into.

Hi!

 

My wife and I will be on the Carnival Valor in September sailing out of San Juan. We are looking for the best excursions/things to do for each port. On the port of calls, we have only been to St. Thomas and we did the Catamaran Sail and Snorkel through Carnival.

 

We know that we want to either do snorkeling or SNUBA, zip lining and definitely visit the best beaches. So far I have read encouraging reviews about snuba at coral world, boatyard in Barbados and Sky Safari St Kitts.

 

What are everyone's must-do's for St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St Marteen?

When are you sailing in Sept?? We are sailing on the 14th

Magen's bay beach in St. Thomas is a must see. My husband and I are on this cruise during the first week of November and we are going back to Magen's Bay again (we've been there before).

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We are going on the Valor in Jan 2015 and the following is what we are doing at each stop....

San Juan - El Yunque Friday, Bio-bay Friday night, San Sebastian festival in OSJ Sat day/night.

St Thomas - Ferry to St Johns then taxi to Cinnamon bay to snorkel.

Barbados - Paynes bay to swim with the turtles from the beach, then to the Wild animal preserve to see the feeding of animals (lots of monkeys, it is fun)

St Lucia - Spencer Ambrose Land and see tour, incredible views and history plus the Pitons are amazing.

St Kitts - taxi to the south end of the island hang out at Reggae beach bar and grill.

St Maarten - Tour the island with a private driver, to orient beach, the French open market, Maho beach to watch the planes. (we did a lot of this with Bernard's last time there and enjoyed it)

San Juan - Tour the forts in OSJ, Drive to our hotel and relax for a day Lol :eek::D

We also have done this cruise on the Victory 2 times before the Valor and Victory Changed places. I have reviews linked in my signature if you would like some idea of things that we did. you will love this cruise it is a great itinerary.

This is our plans

Our favorites - we will be doing these again in November.

St. Thomas - Rumbaba Charter with Capt. chad is fantastic! He only takes 6 people per sailing, great snorkeling and amazing lunch.

Barbados- Boatyard. We went in August of last year and had a lot of fun swimming with the turtle and snorkeling the shipwreck.

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We are going on the Valor in Jan 2015 and the following is what we are doing at each stop....

 

San Juan - El Yunque Friday, Bio-bay Friday night, San Sebastian festival in OSJ Sat day/night.

St Thomas - Ferry to St Johns then taxi to Cinnamon bay to snorkel.

Barbados - Paynes bay to swim with the turtles from the beach, then to the Wild animal preserve to see the feeding of animals (lots of monkeys, it is fun)

St Lucia - Spencer Ambrose Land and see tour, incredible views and history plus the Pitons are amazing.

St Kitts - taxi to the south end of the island hang out at Reggae beach bar and grill.

St Maarten - Tour the island with a private driver, to orient beach, the French open market, Maho beach to watch the planes. (we did a lot of this with Bernard's last time there and enjoyed it)

San Juan - Tour the forts in OSJ, Drive to our hotel and relax for a day Lol :eek::D

 

 

We also have done this cruise on the Victory 2 times before the Valor and Victory Changed places. I have reviews linked in my signature if you would like some idea of things that we did. you will love this cruise it is a great itinerary.

I will look into some of these. On our Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Glory we were in OSJ during San Sebastian festival. Awesome time for sure!

When in September are you sailing? We are sailing on September 14 and are still looking for 4 others to join our St. Lucia excursion. http://www.mysticmantours.com/eco-adventure/ 6 hour catamaran and snorkel tour of the island. $88. Even if you are not on our sailing it might be something for you and your wife to look into.

When are you sailing in Sept?? We are sailing on the 14th

We are sailing on the 14th! I think we are leaning towards zip lining in St Lucia, still undecided though

I just got back last night. Here's what my group and I did: ( ages 9-49)

St. Thomas: took the carnival excursion to St. John's - trunk bay fir snorkeling. Beautiful island, and beach. Only 1 1/2- 2 hrs at the beach. Wish it was longer.

Barbados: calabaza catamaran- snorkeling with the turtles and 3 reefs made on sunken ships. Great day!!!

St. Lucia: tree top adventures for zip lining. Fun 1/2 day, but the drive can make you nauseous. If you go to the Pitons I suggest you take a water taxi, you'll get there much quicker without the winding roads.

St. Kitts: tour with Roosevelt aka Texas. Merlin was our driver and a true gentleman. The best was the batik factory at Romney manor and the Brimstone fortress.

St. Martin : took it easy and used the water taxi service to go to the beach right across from the ship. Very relaxing day.

I hope this helps!

It's just a moment, this time will pass

How many ships were in port that day? I checked and the Valor will be the only ship so hopefully it wont be too crowded.

Thanks for the tips!

I will be going on the Valor February 2015, how do you check ahead of time how many ships will be in the different ports?

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post a link but do a search for cruise ship port schedule or something along those lines and you should find a few sites that have the time tables for each port by day

Dirkgun-- I want to swim with the turtles and was looking at lobster alive. Is Paynes beach a better area or does it matter?

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St Kitts, I highly recommend the Shipwreck on the beach. Take a taxi, cheap round trip. Have your driver stop at the lookout, the Caribbean on one side Atlantic on other, beautiful setting. At about Noon they feed the Monkeys and the Moongoose. They come down from the mountains to feed, great pictures. The beer is cold and the food is good.

We've done this trip twice when the victory was there

STT we used Godfrey and then did STJ on our own

Barbados we did a taxi tour w a group from our M&M and then the boatyard the second year we just went right to the boatyard. Both time it was quiet. There is security and water 'toys' clean restrooms and a ride back to the ship. When we rented jet skis from one of the vendors the bar stores our bags for us up high and safe. Your entry fee includes one drink as well and happy hour was every other hour BOGO!

St Lucia. We did spencer land/water. Great trip and the second year we did treetop adventures ziplining and waterfall hike loved that as well

St Kitts. My island tours by Javin both times and would totally do it again. Great adventure hiking, black rocks, rainforest, snorkeling and beach time

St Maarten both times we just left it up in the air. Once a land tour once we went to Maho

Enjky it's a great port trip!

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